Anxious About Everything
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 1 Peter 5:6–10 (ESV)
There is an epidemic that millions of people deal with everyday. It’s not COVID, alcohol addiction, or even drugs. I know many people that deal with it and many that are debilitated by it. Some cope with it through drinking, drugs, and promiscuous relationships. Others live with it by withdrawing from society. No matter how people deal with it, there is hope.
Over 40 million Americans are affected by anxiety. That’s over 18% of the population. During the holiday season, it becomes increasingly worse. People isolate themselves with fear of rejection, low self-worth, and self-inflicted ideas that they are not worth anything.
Humble Yourself to God
In 1 Peter, God gives us four commands to overcome anxiety. The first is perhaps the most difficult. You must humble yourself before God. This means that we must submit ourselves to high authority in our lives. You have to set aside your pride and allow God control of your life. It’s important to understand that you will never overcome anxiety alone. Let’s be honest. If you had a handle on this, you wouldn’t be reading this blog. There wouldn’t be an epidemic of anxiety in our world today. God is the only answer to overcome this, but we must first acknowledge that God is our only source of help and allow Him to guide us.
Be Sober-Minded and Watchful
Next, we must be sober-minded and watchful. After humbling ourselves before God, we must clear all the negative influences we have from our lives. Negativity is the root of anxiety. We become anxious about things when we have a negative opinion about ourselves, the world, and society. Removing the negativity in our life helps us take a huge step forward in conquering this problem in our lives. This can be a difficult task. A lot of the negative things in our lives are toxic: relationships, our work environment, and the news are just a few. Examining our lives with an open mind and understanding what is toxic will help us identify the things we need to remove.
Along with being sober-minded, you must be watchful. These two commands go hand in hand. Once you have eliminated the toxic things from your life, you will be tempted to go back to what you’re used to. It’s crazy to think that we continuously run into toxic situations in our life even when we know they’re harmful, but we do. Once we have removed them from our lives, we must be watchful not to return to the very thing that debilitates us.
Resist the Devil
Finally, the Bible says to resist Satan. The paralyzing effects that anxiety has on our lives are because of Satan. When we can’t socialize or function in society, Satan has us right where he wants us. When we escape his grasp, he will do everything he can to get it back. We must resist him when that temptation comes, and I promise it will come. The best thing to do is surround yourself with positive influences and run to them when temptation arises.
The great news is that God promises to do several things for us when we look to Him for help. He promises that He will restore us. It was never His plan that we live as a slave to anxiety. When we look to God for healing, the Bible promises that God will restore us. He will then confirm that we are His children and give us a sense of peace that passes all understanding. He will then provide us with the strength to carry on in life. Finally, He will establish us as His. He adopts us into His family and gives us eternal life with Him.
If you’re dealing with anxiety, I pray that you will consider allowing God to deliver you from this issue. It’s also important to understand that you may need professional help to overcome this problem in your life. Either way, you were created for more.